Stories from the North
by Zeru
Summary: Miria's plan to improve teamwork backfires when she learns more about her team then she ever imagined, but did it realy backfire?
1. A day with Helen

**Warning!! If you are not a manga reader, I recommend not advancing past this point!**

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Tales from the North...Part 1

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Miria was annoyed…

Oh sure, this had been her idea, and it had sounded like a good idea at the time.

...but she was still annoyed.

They had been training together all this time as a team of 7 after all, it would be good for them all to learn how to work in smaller, more

covert teams.

It was not unlikely that there would be times in the future were they would be separated or forced to split up, and Miria's

idea was a good step towards preparing for such an event.

They would train together for a week then split up into smaller groups the next week, and then regrouping a week after that. Training with

different pairings each time, a great way to build trust and teamwork, it had sounded like SUCH a great idea at the time.

Miria had been quite happy with herself.

That is, until she got paired up with Helen.

"Miria!!!! Can we take a break already, I'm starving!!"

(Sigh) "Helen it has barely been a day, I know your appetite is larger then average, but this is ridiculous!!"

Oh yes, she was getting very annoyed, it was only the start of their second day, and she was already getting sick of being stuck alone with

her.

The girl did not understand the value of silence, nor the subtle art of **not** sharing your thoughts with others.

Miria was not entirely sure that it was possible, but she was almost certain that Helen was slowly killing her with her constant torrent of

senseless babble and complaints.

"But MIRIAAA!!!!"

"NO Helen! You are just going to have to wait until night fall; we will take a break then."

"Fine…." Helen finally replied after a long (but thankfully quiet) delay.

Hours of blissful silence passed by, they moved quickly and efficiently, scouting the area and looking for any useful material they could

salvage.

Miria was finally able to focus on training with Helen; things were going fine until…….

"Say Miria…."

"Yes Helen?"

"Have you ever gotten laid?"

Miria whipped her head around, her expression one of shock.

"What?!"

"I was just asking if you had ever gotten yourself laid, you always seem really tense and uptight, you seem to have a lot of pent of

frustration."

Miria felt a head-ache coming….a big one.

"Helen I am not….uptight….and even if I was, I do not think "getting laid", as you put it would help.

"Eh, Really?!"

"Helen, it is not even possible for us, you know what our bodies are like, and most men would not even attempt to approach us in the first

place."

"Bah! That's what Deneve said too; until I got her paired up with that guy at a bar that one time."

"...What?"

"Yeah, its not that hard really, I mean some guys are not really that afraid of us, hell some of them think that it's kind of a turn-on, the

whole warrior-woman with a big-sword thing."

"Are you telling me that you and Deneve have both…..?"

"Yup!!" Helen said with a smile. "It helped loosen Deneve up loads!! She used to be a lot worse then she is now."

Miria was at a complete loss for words, she could not even begin to imagine…..

"I tell ya, it's great though! Sure it's kind of an odd experience having to cover up my chest while doing it, but it's a great feeling to

know that your body is attractive to someone."

Miria managed to force her thoughts back into coherency.

"Helen…even if I was willing to go through with that, and I am not, there are no men or bars for that matter, up north anymore, and we

are also in hiding."

"Yeah, I suppose that's true" Helen sighed, looking disappointed.

"Let's get moving Helen, we have wasted enough time."

"Fine, fine"

Just as Miria turned, around Helen shouted out, "I got it!!"

"Got what Helen?" Miria asked cautiously, trying her best to purge her mind of the ideas Helen had managed to jam into it.

"You could always try pleasuring yourself! It's a great stress reliever." Helen said with a smile and a wink.

Miria was once again at a loss for words, I mean...how was she supposed to respond to that?!

After a few moments, Miria decided how, she turned around and started walking away...fast.

"Miria! Wait up! If you don't know how I could give you some pointers!!" Helen shouted, in swift pursuit of her commander.

Miria just sped up. Refusing to turn around...Annoyed was no longer the word Miria would use.

Mortified was a much more suitable word now.

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First Fanfiction EVER!!! Please leave reviews, I would like any chance to improve my writing.


	2. Annoyed no more

Stories from the North…Part 2

"Just one more day…..I just have to hold on for one more day."

That was what "Phantom" Miria had been telling herself since this day had started.

They were _finally_ on the way back to meet the others, and then she would

_finally_ be free of Helen.

It was bad enough that Helen had embarrassed her a great deal by talking about

sexual intercourse with men during the second day, as well as

giving her pointers over the finger points in "pleasuring one self", a topic in which

Helen displayed a disturbing amount of insight in.

It got worse on the third day, believe it or not, when Helen started talking about

how she and Deneve used to….._experiment_….as in…with each other

"It wasn't really something either of us could get into to be honest" Helen

remarked, ignoring Miria's shocked expression.

"It was just too awkward, for both of us."

Miria knew she would never be able to look at Deneve the same way again,

Helen had scared Miria's image of the cool-headed yet confrontational Warrior.

Time could not pass quickly enough for Miria, so she did her best to keep Helen

busy. They were now in the process carrying back some useful material they had

salvaged from a nearby abandoned village.

"Tsk, I really wish we could get some new clothes."

Helen said suddenly. Shrugging the materials she was carrying to a more comfortable

position

"I am getting sick of these old outfits we have been wearing; they are

starting to develop holes"

Helen demonstrated by poking a finger through a hole in her body suit.

(She does have a point), Miria mused. (We could use some new clothes, maybe I should

get the others to check out the towns, we might be able to find something that

would suitable.)

"It would be nice to change our image I admit, I do dislike the fact we can still be

associated with the Organization with these uniforms." Miria said, relieved

somewhat that Helen had picked a subject she was actually willing to talk

about.

"Oh not just that, I think the new clothes we have to wear should be stylistic,

something sleek, something with **impact!**" Helen said, more then a little excitement

entering her voice.

"I suppose it is reasonable wanting to change our image……" Miria said, unconsciously

tugging at her hair.

"Hehe, I don't blaim you for wanting to change your hair a bit." Helen said

with a grin, noting Miria's gesture..

Silence

"What is wrong with my hair?" Miria asked.

"Well..er" Helen said, suddenly looking nervous.

"Well what Helen?" Miria said, feeling a twinge of impatience.

"Um..a, weren't you saying something about searching for some new clothes

Miria?" Helen said, obviously not comfortable with the subject anymore.

(She doesn't want to tell me!) Miria realized.

"Helen, don't change the subject." Miria said, using her "commander voice",

as Helen had put it in the past.

Helen jumped a bit, and avoided eye contact with Miria, like a child caught doing

something she shouldn't.

"I'm waiting Helen"

"You'reforeheadishugeandIjustthoughtyoumighthavewantedtochangeyourhairtom

akeitlessobvious!"

Helen blurted out in a rush.

"………What?"

(Did she…….just say my forehead was HUGE!?)

Miria stood their in absolute silence, no longer staring at Helen, her gaze now

focused on the ground.

There was a long silence.

"Um…….Miria?" Helen began hesitantly.

"……."

"Errr…I didn't mean to offend you or anything Miria, I really didn't!" Helen said, a

hint of worry entering her voice.

Miria simply turned around and began walking away.

"W-w-wait for me Miria!" Helen said; quickly in pursuit.

"I'm really sorry! Please forgive me!" Helen said, a pleading tone entering her

voice.

Miria eventually slowed down, and Helen followed suit.

There was a pause…then;

"Back when I was in training, people used to make fun of my forehead" Miria

began quietly.

Helen shifted uncomfortably.

"But a close friend of mine told me I should be proud of my features, and to not hide it

behind my hair (which was pretty long even then). So I started wearing my hair so

it showed my forehead instead of hid it." Miria said, still facing away from Helen, now looking up into the air.

"Miria I didn-" Helen started, suddenly feeling bad.

"But that was a long time ago, and I was just trying to make a point" Miria said,

turning around with a wry grin on her face.

"S-so your not mad at me?" Helen said hesitantly.

"No, I am not mad at you Helen." Miria said changing her expression to one of

amusement. It was kind of nice seeing Helen off-balance for once.

"Err, if that's the case….if you feel like fixing your hair a bit, you know…..just

because…., could I maybe do it?" Helen said looking embarrassed.

Miria's expression changed to one of surprise.

"Only if you want to!" Helen said, her face reddening further.

"You want to fix up my hair?" Miria asked.

Helen nodded, still looking embarrassed.

"I saw Cynthia helping Tabitha with her hair the other day, and I have been

wanting to give it a try since then." Helen explained, looking slightly ashamed.

Miria assumed a thoughtful look, Helen continued to shift-her weight, obviously anxious for a reply.

A small smile placed itself on Miria's features, and she nodded.

"Really!? Thank you Miria!" Helen said; her usual cheer suddenly restored.

----1 day later----

"I'm surprised" Deneve said.

"I'd have thought those two would be here before any of us."

"Why do you say that, Deneve?" Yuma asked politely.

"Because Helen could test anyone's patience" Clare said "It becomes a lot clearer

when you are stuck alone with her." Clare shook her head, remembering her own

experience in teaming up with the resident trouble-maker.

"Is she really that bad?" Cynthia asked, curious.

"She can be, but she can be fun to hang around too" Deneve said, a rare, and mysterious smile showing on her face.

"There they are." Clare said suddenly, staring off into the distance.

Everyone turned their heads to where Clare was looking, and several eyebrows raised.

"Hello everyone, I'm glad you all made it on time." Miria said, greeting everyone, not even pausing to acknowledge the curiousity written

on their faces.

The difference was striking to say the least.

Helen followed a few steps behind Miria, looking slightly nervous.

Their was a brief pause, and then;

"Your hair looks wonderful Miria!" Cynthia said with approval in her voice, Obviously pleased with her commander's new look.

Everyone else quickly nodded their heads in agreement.

Helen looked relieved, and Miria smiled.

"Why thank you Cynthia, Helen did the best she could with my hair, it was pretty

stubborn" Miria said, noticeably cheerier then usual.

Clare and Deneve traded surprised expressions, and then smiled.

(I'm so glad they liked it) Helen thought, immensely happy with her decision to

leave Miria's forehead revealed.

(I guess being paired with Helen really wasn't that bad) Miria thought, feeling

happy with her decision to trust Helen with her hair.

"Now everyone, enough of that." Gesturing for silence;

everyone switched to "listening to the commander-mode."

"Helen brought up a good point while we were paired up" Miria began.

"It's about our uniforms and how we need to change our look."

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What Helen said was; "You're forehead is huge and I just thought you might have wanted to change your hair to make it less obvious!"

Please Read and Review!

3rd Chapter might take a bit, but reviews motivate me :D


	3. Of Friends and Family

Stories from the North part 3

Please Review, it motivates me . 

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The howling wind and the sound of snow crushed beneath boot was the only sound that could be heard for miles.

Miria sighed.

After spending an entire week with Helen, the beautiful sound of silence should have been a comfort to her.

But it wasn't, the reason why?

Clare was why.

Normally Clare's silence would be appreciated, and in a way; was expected, but today was different somehow.

The air felt tense for some reason. Miria could have sworn Clare was staring a hole into her back.

The question was, what did Clare want to say, and more importantly, why didn't she just come out and say it?

Clare had been acting odd for awhile, looking back on it now, more separated from the group then she usual was.

That was not good; Clare was never a very good team player, often jumping into the fray, despite orders not to.

Despite Clare's cool exterior, she was as hot-headed as Helen, if not more so. The only time Miria had ever seen Clare work exceptionally well in a team was with Flora.

Flora was dead, 3 years dead.

Jean too, perhaps that was the reason she did not work well with others?

Was it because those that she grew close to died? The deaths of Jean and Flora had been a heavier blow for Clare then most of us, but still she found it unlikely that that alone wou—

"Miria" said a voice from behind her.

Miria stopped, she had gotten lost in thought again; she was starting to develop a bad-habit of doing that. 

"Is there a problem Clare?" Miria said, facing Clare.

"I wanted to ask you something."

(Tell me something I don't know) Miria sighed inwardly.

"What is it Clare?" Miria stated simply, crossing her arms, her expression one of patience.

"How?"

Miria stared at Clare for a moment.

"You are going to have to be more specif-" Miria started.

"How can you stand waiting up here for 3 years, waiting so long for revenge on the people who wronged us?" Clare said, heat entering both her expression and her voice.

The question startled Miria, this was defiantly unexpected.

"I don't see how you can stand it, how the others can stand it." Clare continued, her eyes focused on Miria.

"The only thing keeping me here is my search for Raki, if it wasn't for that I woul-"

"Fear" was Miria's simple reply.

Clare's heated expression transformed into one of shock.

Then her features began to change to anger.

"FEAR!? Miria how coul-"

"I was not finished yet Clare." Miria said coolly, quelling Clare's outrage.

Clare's lips closed, her features struggling to regain composure.

"Yes, fear Clare, I am afraid." Miria continued, her eyes locked onto Clare's.

"I am afraid of what will happen if we screw up, if we just go off without a plan, without being prepared, what then?"

Clare's expression cracked again, this time one of astonishment.

"If I lead us out of here, on a blind quest for vengeance, we will all die, of that I have no doubt. I want us to be prepared; I want us to be ready before we move, because if we fail, not only will all those who entrusted their spirits to us have done so in vain, I would also be personally responsible for getting you all killed."  
Miria paused; letting her words settle into Clare's mind.

Clare remembered then, 3 years ago, a broken figure in the snow, crying over the people she couldn't save, despite the fact she had saved more then anyone had thought possible.

She had felt responsible, felt like she should have done more, despite the fact that she had saved the lives of the six other warriors now surviving here in the north.

Despite the fact she had helped them all survive the impossible.

Clare suddenly felt ashamed.

"I don't want anymore of my friends to die on me Clare" Miria said, placing a hand on Clare's shoulder.

"The only reason I am able to stay here is because I am able to share my pain with you all, because you all support me, do you understand that Clare?" Miria said, her gaze never wavering.

"I understand Miria." Clare replied quietly, looking away from Miria's eyes.

It was hard for her to stare into the determined, unwavering eyes of her leader.

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They had continued to walk along, now in the remains of yet another ruined village, a nearby abandoned leatherworking shop appeared to be Miria's goal.

The silence had returned, and this time it's victim was Clare.

Miria's words had affected her greatly, and Clare found herself developing a newfound respect for her commander.

(Miria is so strong) Clare thought.

All this time, despite her own desire for vengeance, Miria put her comrades first, she treated them like family.

Family; that was a word that sparked old memories in Clare, a word she associated two important people not related to her by blood, two important women that Clare kept close to her heart.

The first was Teresa, her sister, the one who had returned the color to her world, and in a way, her mother, and the one whose flesh and blood she carried inside her.

The second was Irene, who had given her the strength and resolve to continue on her impossible quest, her mentor, the one who had sacrificed a part of herself for her, and smiled.

And now…..

Clare decided.

"Miria, there is something I want to tell you." Clare said, raising her head, and staring straight into Miria's eyes, determination shining in her silver eyes.

Healing was was a slow process for the heart, and if someone as strong as Miria needed the support of others to help her, then maybe she did as well.

"I want to tell you about something I have kept hidden from you and the others, about my past...and about my family."

I decided to try a more serious chapter, thanks for everyone down at Animesuki for their help!


	4. A Whole New Look

Stories from the North part 4

Please leave a review when your done with the story. :D

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Shock was Miria's new word for the day. What else could she feel after hearing Clare's story?

She had a vague idea of Clare's past before, but even amongst the tragic history of the warriors known as Claymores, Clare's tale surely ranked among the worst.

"I'm sorry." Clare said suddenly.

"Sorry for what?" was Miria's reply.

"I am sorry for not telling you sooner, and for taking your chance at revenge away." Clare replied, wearing a serious expression.

_This girl, she really did not understand_. Miria sighed mentally.

"I had no desire to take revenge on Ophelia."

"But was she not responsible for the awakening of your friend?"

_She really did not get it, _Miria thought,_ even after telling them my story, Clare seems to be the only one who does not understand, and I think I know why now._

"Ophelia and many others, are only by-products of what the Organization has done, they are only ones I desire revenge against." Miria replied, hoping to quell Clare's fears.

"Then do you think my quest petty?" Clare said, her eyes focused on Miria's own.

Miria paused for a moment, trying to discern Clare's thoughts.

"You and I are different people Clare, my decision was my own, and I have no right to pass judgment on yours."

Clare relaxed visibly, although she still looked unsure.

"I sometimes wonder if she would approve of what I am doing." Clare said.

Teresa of the Faint Smile, possibly the strongest #1 in the Organizations history, had been Clare's caretaker, however briefly.

It was still hard for Miria to picture it, one of their own risking their life so willingly for a human child, even at the cost of her own.

_Then again, this girl is the exact same way_…_and I suppose…_, _the rest of us are too._ Mira thought, amused by the thought.

"Would you stop your quest if she didn't?"

"No." was Clare's immediate response.

"Then put it out of mind. In all honesty, I don't think Hilda would approve of what I am doing, but that does not stop me. I have to keep going, not just for her sake, but for everyone who could suffer the same fate."

"Is it that simple?" Clare asked, looking into her leader's eyes once more.

"It is that simple." Miria responded.

Clare smiled at this, happy with Miria's decisive response.

"Will you tell the others?" Miria asked, curious.

"Eventually" Clare replied, after a moment of thought.

"I'm glad." Miria responded. It was good that Clare was willing to trust others again; even after all she had been through.

"We should continue our search now, we have delayed long enough" Miria said, suddenly realizing how long they had been standing there.

--------------A few hours later----------------

"I found something!" Clare yelled; a small hint of excitement in her voice.

"What is it?" Miria shouted back, quickly moving towards Clare's voice.

"This" Clare said; pointing at a sign once Miria was close enough to see it.

"A tannery?" Miria questioned, curious at Clare's choice.

"Yes, when I first left the Organization, I found that leather was quite suited for clothing, it was tough and easy to purchase in towns." Clare said, her pleasure in her discovery was quite clear.

"Do you think you could pick something out from in there? I believe that you are more familiar with such things then I am." Miria decided.

"Are you certain? I thought you would want to pick it out, or perhaps have Helen…"

"NO!" Miria exclaimed

Clare raised an eyebrow.

(Cough) "I mean no, I would rather not have Helen pick out our clothing, I am quite sure that Helen would pick something that most of us would not approve off." Miria finished, blushing slightly.

"Oh? I was under the impression you approved of Helen's fashion sense" Clare said pointing at Miria's hair.

"I have no problem with her decision on my hair style, but I would rather not risk it with our clothing." Miria replied, quite honestly.

"Very well, I will see what I can do." Clare said, a suspicious smile entering her features.

_Why do I suddenly have a bad feeling?_ Miria thought.

----------A few hours later----------

"Um…Clare…What is this?" Miria said, a dubious look on her face.

"What is what?" Clare asked, using a innocent tone that did not suit her at all.

"This!" Miria raised her voice, pointing at her skirt.

"It is a skirt." Clare stated, nodding.

"I know that Clare, what I meant was, why is it so short?!" Miria asked; a visible blush on her face.

"I based it of Irene's outfit, from what I could remember of it at least." Clare replied honestly. "The skirt actually might be a bit too lon-"

"No! This…this is fine." Miria sighed, lowering her head in defeat.

_At least we have cloaks._ Miria thought.

"The open area around the arms and legs allows you to keep your flexibility, while the leather itself provides a exceptional amount of protection, considering how light it is." Clare explained, still sensing Miria's reluctance.

"Yes Clare, We can have the others look at it and see what they think." Miria said, deciding to accept Clare's judgment.

"It's not like we can feel the cold" Clare said.

"That's…not the point Clare" Miria sighed.

"Then what is the problem." Clare asked, clearly curious.

"J-just forget it Clare."

"Lets salvage what we need and head back, you will need to measure the others right?" Miria questioned.

"Yes, unlike the Organization's body suits, these will be custom made for each of us." Clare said, showing a surprising amount of pride in her work.

_And that is the goal wasn't it? To separate ourselves from them… still…did it have to look so…risqué?_

------A few days later-----

"Woohoo I love it!!" Helen shouted, a wide grin plastered on her face.

_Unsurprising,_ Miria thought.

"It looks…different." Deneve said, examining her new outfit.

_I bet, at least you don't feel the wind blowing between your legs. _Miria thought bitterly, observing both Helen and Deneve's rather apparent skin-covering devices.

"Interesting." Was all Tabitha had to say, looking from outfit to outfit.

_At least no one will be spending their time ogling us_, Miria mused, purposefully ignoring Helen's remarks about how easy it would be to pick-up guys in there new outfits.

"I like it…it looks kind of…err…sexy." Cynthia said, obviously embarrassed at her own words.

_I knew it was a bad idea to have Cynthia team with up Helen, she even likes the skirt! Speaking of which, how come Helen isn't wearing a skirt?_

"Alright, Custom outfits!" Helen cheered. "We found just the thing to celebrate too!"

"Would that happen to be what you were dragging around in those crates?" Miria questioned, she had been eyeing the suspicious things ever since Helen and Cynthia had dragged them into the cave.

Cynthia suddenly looked uncomfortable.

"Yeah we found some booze and decided to drag it back!" Helen stated, completely unashamed.

Miria felt a headache coming.

"I-it wasn't my idea Miria!" Cynthia cried out, noting Miria's negative response.

"Hey! Don't lie Cynthia, you were the one who suggested we drag it back!" Helen said, looking like she had just been betrayed.

Cynthia turned red.

_I guess I still have a lot to learn about my teammates_… _or rather my_ _friends…ah why the hell not…_Miria caved mentally.

"I guess taking a break this once wouldn't be too bad." Miria said out loud, surprising everyone.

"YES!!" Helen shouted, her voice echoing through the cave.

Helen was already breaking one of the crates open, and Cynthia was standing close by, a mixture of embarrassment and eagerness written on her face.

Deneve looked amused, but was keeping a safe distance, while Clare looked at Miria curiously.

Tabitha was obviously interested in the contents of the crates, most likely unfamiliar with its contents.

"Umm… Miria is this a good idea?" Yuma asked, obviously nervous.

"Probably not." Miria replied honestly.

_But since when has that stopped us?_

_---------------To be continued_

Hello all, hope you liked the new chapter of "Stories from the North"

Please Review! I noticed a lot of story alerts, but not many reviews. .


	5. Most Unexpected

Stories from the North part 5

Sorry about the long wait, homework has been killing me. .

* * *

Helen was always full of surprises, for one, she and Deneve were apparently the only 

Non-virgins among the 7 survivors, and she was more then willing to brag and/or tease others with her "experience."

Helen also managed to bring out the best in everyone. When she was around Clare would became a little less isolated, Deneve smiled a lot more, and Yuma no longer felt left out.

But sometimes she brings out the most unexpected side in people. The first time Miria had ever seen Tabitha blow up was when Helen teased her about something; it was quite a shocker to see Tabitha chasing Helen, red faced and shouting out threats of bodily harm.

With Cynthia…….well Cynthia was a completely different person when Helen was nearby. The normally polite and innocent Cynthia became a mischievous troublemaker that would laugh as much as apologize when pulling a prank. In Miria's opinion, Helen was a bad influence on her, but in light of recent events, it may not be solely Helen's influence.

As for Miria herself; she believed that Helen could get her to do things she would normally never do. Take breaks where there should be none, do things that could be considered dangerous, or doing something that was entirely inappropriate considering their circumstances here in the north.

Like the entire drinking party idea; Miria was still trying to figure out what demon had possessed her and allowed this to happen.

Ah yes, one more thing, Helen displayed amazing foresight by having everyone take Yoki suppression pills before they started drinking, this should have set of alarm bells in Miria's head, but she figured that their enhanced metabolisms could handle a little alcohol.

Miria had never been more wrong in her life…….

"HAHAHAHAHA" Helen crowed, laughing at Cynthia's attempts to force alcohol down Yuma's throat.

Clare was helping by pinning Yuma to the ground, a strangely sinister grin plastered onto her face.

Tabitha was currently hanging off Miria in a rather…..seductive manner; while Miria did her absolute best to fend of her subordinate's advances.

Yes, Miria was certain that Helen, and possibly Cynthia, knew all along that this would happen.

Apparently half-human, half-yoma warriors' enhanced metabolisms did little to block the effects of Alcohol, in fact their unusual metabolism seemed to enhance the effects of alcohol considerably.

Deneve was the only one seemingly unaffected by the alcohol, probably because she had been consuming very little of it.

Wait….She was smiling! She knew this would happen right from the start!

"T-tabitha, please stop that." Miria said, once again trying to extract herself from Tabitha's grasp.

"Butttt whyyyyyy Miriaa?" Tabitha slurred, a slightly…..dangerous look in her eyes.

"Because I need to help Yuma over there….and this is rather uncomfortable." Miria responded, her voice showing the fore mentioned discomfort.

"Awww, if that's the case we can get in a little more…**comfy** position." Tabitha said; her previously dangerous look now a smoky gaze.

"I-i-i'd rather not T-tabitha." Miria stuttered, more than a little unsettled by Tabitha's suggestion.

"Aww your so **cute** when your stuttering!!" Tabitha said, hugging Miria in a way that only made her more uncomfortable.

_Someone save me! _Miria pleaded mentally.

"Heyyyyy! Are you two making out over there?!" Helen shouted from across the room, switching her view from the still struggling Yuma, who had managed to miraculously get an arm free and was warding off Cynthia's efforts.

"Mind your own business rubber-arms!!" Tabitha shouted back, her voice going from a seductive drawl to an angry hiss.

"Hey! What did I tell ya about calling me that?!" Helen said while marching across the room.

"Just leave me alone! I'm spending time with Miria!" Tabitha said defensively.

"Ahh you mean some **quality **time right?" Helen said in a teasing fashion, pausing half way through her march, a sly smile parking on her features.

Tabitha released Miria and charged over, tackling Helen, who was caught by surprise.

But Helen rolled with it and they started wrestling on the ground.

Miria breathed a sigh of relief, thankful for the distraction.

_Time to go help Yuma,_ Miria thought.

Yuma was once again overpowered and had both arms pinned down by Clare, Yuma quickly reverted to pleading, hoping to reason with her more-then-a-little-crazy teammates.

It obviously was not working as Clare still had her pinned down quite efficiently, and Cynthia had finally managed to get a solid hold on Yuma's head, preventing any further resistance.

"HELP!!!" Yuma cried, switching into panic mode.

Miria tried to quickly make her way over, but tripped.

_Wait…I tripped?! _Miria thought with alarm.

Apparently the alcohol had a stronger effect on her then she first believed, sure her head was a little fuzzy, but she didn't think she was as bad as most of her teammates seemed to be.

_But come to think of it, I couldn't even get Tabitha off me_. Miria thought, a chill going down her spine.

Speaking of which, Helen seemed to be losing, much to Miria's surprise, then again Helen had the second largest amount of alcohol intake so far; the first most definitely being Cynthia.

"What's wrong rubber-arms! I thought you were #25!" Tabitha crowed, currently the one on top.

"Aww nothin's wrong Tabby, I'm just stealing you away for myself!" Helen cooed as she reached up and caressed Tabitha's flushed features.

Tabitha froze, and then rapidly tried to get away from Helen, her face blushing from embarrassment, but Helen caught her leg and pinned her to the floor.

"What's wrong Tabby?! is Helen not good enough for you?" Helen said in a teasing voice.

"Get off me Helen!" Tabitha said, clearly not interested in grappling with Helen anymore.

"Oh I know, you want your first time to by with our fearless leader eh?" Helen said, with a wicked grin.

"N-n-noo, I-I'm not--" Tabitha said, trying in vain to escape Helen's grasp, apparently Helen's superior strength had returned.

"Oh come on, I sleep closest to you, you think I don't hear you over there in your corner?" Helen said.

Tabitha froze.

""Ohhh Miria, ohh yeah don't stop!" Or how about "please be gentle Miria!!!" or even "Oh whip me harder!!"" Helen moaned; mimicking Tabitha's (ahem) late night sessions.

"I-i-i d-don't d-do t-that!" Tabitha cried, shaking her head in denial.

...Actually Miria knew for a fact she did, which is one of the reasons she now slept furthest away from Tabitha.

"NOOOO-grkarkkk" came a cry from across the room as Cynthia finally forced alcohol down Yuma's throat.

Yuma waved her trapped arms like a bird, but was unable to stop what had already been done.

"See? That wasn't so bad!" Cynthia said, as Clare finally released Yuma.

Yuma sat there for a second, a glazed look in her eyes, and promptly fell over.

"Ok next up isszzz!" Cynthia said, scanning the room for their next victim.

"Miria." Clare said, like it was to be expected.

_Ah crap_

Miria tried to get up and run, but stumbled again.

Clare and Cynthia where on her in a flash; pinning her down before she could resist effectively.

"Why can everyone else move normaly!!!??" Miria cried, weakly struggling against Clare and Cynthia.

It wasn't long before Miria's weak defenses were batted aside and she was forced to drink more alcohol.

* * *

Miria woke up in a daze, slowly trying to remember where she was. 

She cracked her eyes open wearily. It was morning judging by the light streaming in from the entrance of the cave.

_Hmm..its kind of drafty. _Miria thought, feeling a slight chill.

Wait a minute, Hybrids weren't supposed to be affected by cold so easily.

Miria looked down and realized she was almost completely naked, and she quickly noticed that everyone else was in a similar state of undress, including Tabitha.

Who was lying right next to her.

"AHHHH!" Miria cried, moving away from Tabitha's body faster then she had ever moved without Yoki.

_What happened, no don't tell me I---_ Miria thought, trying her hardest to remember what happened.

"Don't worry, you guys all passed out before you could do anything that you'd regret….too much at least." Deneve said from behind her.

Miria whirled around to look at Deneve.

And there Deneve stood, fully dressed no less, with an amused expression on her face.

"Deneve how are yo-" Miria tried to question, but suddenly felt a pounding headache.

"Ah don't worry about that, it goes away pretty quickly for us hybrids." Deneve stated upon seeing Miria hold her head.

"Good, no wait I meant how come you aren't-"

"Naked like the rest of you?" Deneve finished. "I didn't drink as much as any of you."

"I know from personal experience how much alcohol affects us."

"Gah, why didn't you warn me?" Miria asked, feeling the after-effects of the alcohol slowly fading.

"Because I get my kicks out of watching you all make fools of yourselves." Deneve responded with a straight face.

Miria was surprised, that was not a response she would have expected from Deneve.

"Wait, Helen knew this would happen to didn't she?"

"Oh most certainly, she is the only person who has ever gotten me drunk, I'm pretty sure Cynthia knew this would happen as well."

"Wait, how did we all get…like this?" Miria questioned, gesturing at their still unconscious teammates.

"Oh that, I think Yuma suggested strip poker and convinced you all to play."

"………Yuma?" was Miria's shocked reply.

"Yeah, once she recovered a little from all that alcohol Cynthia forced down her throat she was considerably more willing to do a lot of things, oh and you won by the way."

Miria looked down, and although very nearly naked, she was indeed the second most dressed person in the room, a fact she was semi-thankful for.

A loud yawn came from the pile of unconscious female warriors as Helen rose, completely naked, from the floor.

"Mornin all." Helen said while stretching her back, completely unashamed by her state of undress.

"Helen, we are going to have a talk, **NOW**." Miria said, marching over to Helen's location."

Helen simply stood there, sheepishly scratching the back of her head with her tongue sticking out.

_I probably shouldn't tell her that they played spin the bottle after that. _Deneve thought.

_Well it was her idea after all._ Deneve smiled at the thought.

_Although that does mean I wouldn't get to see her reaction when I tell her Helen blatantly cheated and forced the bottle to point at Tabitha when it was her_(Miria's) _turn._

_Or the fact that Miria was quite enthusiastic with their not-so-little make out session before they passed out._

Tabitha's still slept, a smile plastered on her sleeping features despite the rather loud tongue lashing Miria was giving Helen.

"Thanks rubber-arms." mumbled Tabitha.

-----------_To be continued_

Sorry for the long wait all, school really has been trying to kill me, but I had a surge of creativity and managed to write this up in about 2-3 hours.

Be thankful and please Read and Review!


	6. Sisterly Bonds

Stories from the North, part 6

Miria was a leader; she commanded those under her command with cool composure and skill.

She knew that the survival of her comrades rested on her ability to lead them, but she was also responsible for keeping them in line.

And that often led to less-then popular decisions.

"What?! What do you mean I'm not allowed to pair up with Cynthia?!" Helen roared.

"Your bad habits are starting to rub off on her and it is causing a lot of trouble for the rest of us." Miria replied, unshaken, despite Helen's outburst.

Miria had come to the decision that Helen and Cynthia needed to be separated for a while. It was both a punishment, and a way to reign in the recently mischievous Cynthia's behavior.

After the "Party" incident Cynthia's activities had become increasingly more and more...Helen-like, and to be honest Miria was unsure if her sanity could remain intact if she had two troublemakers running around here up north.

"To be blunt, you're a bad influence Helen."

"I am not a bad influence!" Helen cried, waving her arms, a defiant look on her face.

"This is not open to discussion Helen, we need to start training. For now, you are barred from training with her." Miria said, turning away from Helen.

"But-"

Miria turned around and swept her cool gaze up to Helen's eyes, daring her to continue.

There was a moment of tense silence before Helen broke eye contact.

An angry Helen stormed off, grabbing Yuma by the arm, dragging the unfortunate #40 off to be her sparring partner, and being the sparring partner of an angry and frustrated Helen was not an enviable position.

Miria looked over at the others; Deneve began to head towards her, being her sparring partner for today, while Tabitha and Clare headed towards Cynthia.

Cynthia looked like a lost puppy; she was obviously just as upset as Helen about their separation, no matter how temporary it may be. Miria noted that Tabitha and the normally silent Clare seemed to be trying to cheer her up.

Miria felt an upwelling of regret, but quickly squashed it; this needed to be done.

Deneve paused for a moment, staring quietly at the retreating form of Helen. She eventually turned around and joined Miria.

* * *

A few hours later…. 

The intensity of their sparring match had both warriors sweating, despite the cold.

Miria was impressed, Deneve was a solid fighter, her skill was impressive, and her agility was admirable, but her strength was what really amazed Miria.

Deneve's physical strength used to be her weak point, being slightly lower than one would expect for her rank, but once she got used to Undine's sword, her strength had slowly, over time, improved.

It was to the point that Miria far preferred to dodge Deneve's attacks then block them. Blocking them would actually numb Miria's arms a bit.

Despite this, Deneve never relied on her improved strength; she instead tried to keep her fighting style flexible and balanced. It made her the ideal sparring partner; she was strong when her opponent was fast and fast when her opponent was strong.

Their blades met again, but Miria quickly jumped over Deneve, avoiding the second Claymore aimed at her torso. As Miria landed, Deneve spun, attempting to catch Miria as she landed.

But Miria was expecting that, and quickly blurred behind Deneve, catching her off guard.

The cold metal of Miria's blade rested against Deneve's neck, signaling the end of the match.

"Hmph, your technique is improving; I really thought I had you there." Deneve stated, her expression one of slight disappointment.

"I am glad that it has, not being able to use Yoki has made it significantly more difficult to adjust then I had first believed."

"You and Clare have been having the hardest time, both of you used techniques that centered heavily on Yoki, but Clare has it worse."

_Indeed_, Miria thought. Clare's situation was quite troubling, despite her vast improvements since the first time they had met, Clare relied very heavily on her techniques, and without them she was considerably weaker.

It did not come even close to what Clare was like during the Northern Campaign, she had heard that Clare matched Flora blow for blow in a short but brutal test of ability, and later Miria herself had witnessed the results of Clare's battle with the Awakened being that had slaughtered its way through their ranks, and had nearly ended Miria's own life.

But without Yoki, Clare's abilities suffered immensely.

"Clare is working on something to improve her situation." Deneve stated.

"Oh? And what would that be?" Miria asked, intrigued.

"I believe she is following Helen's example, and attempting to replicate a fellow warrior's technique, specifically Flora's Windcutter."

It was possible, just like Miria had been training herself to bring out the potential of her half-awakened body; Clare's training could bring out the true potential of that arm, the arm of the former #2, Irene.

"Speaking of Helen, I wanted to talk to you about your decision concerning her situation with Cynthia."

Miria dragged her thoughts away from Clare's past, and possibly future, and turned them towards the much more pressing matter of Helen and Cynthia.

"Very well, do you have a problem with it?" Miria inquired, curious to see what the long time friend of Helen had to say about the situation.

"Yes, I don't believe you should separate those two."

"I feel bad about it but when they are together it becomes much harder to concentrate on our training, not to mention our survival." Miria replied, heaving a sighing.

"I understand what you are getting at, but I still believe they should not be separated." Deneve replied, her tone serious.

"and why is that?" Miria asked, honestly curious.

"To put it bluntly, Helen is right, it does get boring out here, and quite frankly I think we would all go insane without her "pranks."

"Not to mention that Cynthia has cheered up considerably since Helen started hanging around her."

Miria remember well what Cynthia was like when they first hid here up north, she was obedient to a fault, but was also extremely distant, the death of Veronica, who she apparently considered an older sister, had affected her a great deal.

"Even so, there is such a thing as too much Deneve, as much as I appreciate Helen's efforts (and yes I do admit I appreciate her efforts) she takes it too far."

Deneve sighed, obviously not wanting to say what she was about to.

"She'll listen to you if you tell her that." Deneve said while sitting down.

…….

"Do you honestly believe that she will listen?" Miria asked, more than a bit disbelieving.

"She looks up to you, if you tell her to cut back on the pranks, she will." Deneve said, her gaze locked on Miria's own.

There was a moment of silence.

" She looks up to me?" Miria's expression changed from disbelief to surprise.

………

"Yes"

"Since when?"

"Since our first Awakened Being hunt together ended."

_What_ Miria wanted to shout, Helen was disobedient, only followed orders to the letter when lives depended on it, and sometimes even "winged it" then. Miria could not even begin to comprehend that Helen the troublemaker looked up to her in any way, shape, or form.

"That's not the impression I got." Was the only thing Miria could get out.

"That's because you expect her to treat you like a leader, like most of us do, but Helen doesn't see you like that." Deneve sighed. It was obvious that she was beginning to regret opening up this topic.

"Then what does she see me as?"

"It's not my place to say."

"If you want me to reconsider my decision, then tell me." Miria said with a serious expression. She couldn't afford to have a weak-link in her chain of command in this situation, it was far too risky and she needed to fix it.

The tenseness in the air was almost a physical force as Miria stared down Deneve.

"Hmph, fine, I'll tell you, but you better keep this quiet." Deneve said, finally breaking the silence.

Inwardly, Miria was relieved, if Deneve had refused her, she wouldn't have pushed the matter, and she couldn't afford to alienate Deneve.

"For you to understand the significance of this, you'll need to know a bit more about Helen." Deneve said.

Miria nodded, listening intently.

"Helen was an orphan, I know that's not rare for us warriors, but unlike most of us, she wasn't on the street, she lived in an Orphanage."

That was a surprise, it was very rare these days to find such places, they were expensive to maintain, and normally the Organization or slave traders would quickly snatch up any stray children on the streets.

"The Orphanage was a rundown place, but the sisters who ran the place really cared for the children, and that was enough for them. The Orphanage had many kids, maybe 30 in all, mostly girls, you know how it is, young lads are adopted pretty quickly for farm-work and such, but young girls have it a lot harder."

Indeed, young-men who did not end up as slaves tended to work on farms, farmers needed the help and were willing to feed the extra mouth for the work.

"Anyway, Helen grew lived in that sort of place, she was one of the oldest there, everyone looked up to her, she was a tomboy through and through, she was a troublemaker then just as she is now." Deneve said with a smirk.

"She told me she used to drag all the other kids into her schemes, and then she would get caught red-handed more often than not, and accepted the responsibility for all of them. I also heard those sisters had pretty strong arms too."

Miria smiled at that.

"Of course a tomboy like her got into fights a lot, especially with some of the older kids, specifically this one girl who was a "goody-two-shoes," her words, not mine" Deneve said, noticing Miria's strange expression.

"This girl was everything Helen wasn't; she was calm, modest, a natural leader, and most of all, obedient. None-the-less, Helen always managed to provoke her, and they would end up wrestling on the ground, and the sisters would always side with her over Helen.

But Helen loved being there with all those children; most of the younger kids looked up to Helen as some sort of role model."

Miria scoffed at that.

"But….that all ended when a Yoma found the Orphanage." Deneve said, a serious expression engraving itself upon her face. Miria's expression became serious as well.

"Helen told me she was being punished at the time, being forced to stay inside while the other children played. Then she heard a roar, the unmistakable sound of a Yoma, and screams soon followed."

"Helen was locked in the room, she had no way to get out, and she tried desperately to get out. She wanted to help, she wanted to save her friends, but the door wouldn't budge."

"The screams were slowly diminishing, and Helen was growing more desperate, she began yelling and screaming at the door."

"Just as Helen was about to charge the door again, it opened. One of the sisters quickly threw another girl and told them to hide in here and stay quiet, and shut the door once again, leaving the two of them alone."

"It was Ms. goody-two-shoes, she was covered in blood, presumably one of the sisters had died trying to save the children, and she was right there. Helen was terrified, but tried to comfort her anyway."

Then they heard a scream nearby, it was the sister who had just shut the door. The Yoma was close."

"Helen said the shocked expression of that girl changed to one of nervous determination, and she told Helen to hide in the only place she could, a small closet that only one of them could fit in."

"Helen refused of course, insisting the other girl should hide in there instead, Helen knew that the other kids were probably dead, and she thought that if anyone deserved to live, it was definitely this girl, even if she was annoyingly modest, way too polite, and everything Helen disliked."

"Helen even had a knife on her that she had stolen and hidden on herself for protection, and told the other girl that she would fight the Yoma off."

"At first it looked like the other girl would agree, and Helen let her guard down." Deneve continued, a sad smile on her face.

"Ms. Good-two-shoes, the modest, polite, and calm girl that Helen would always argue with sucked punched Helen square in the face, knocking her out cold."

"When Helen came too, she was in the closet. She regained her wits and quickly escaped from the closet, desperate to stop the other girl."

"When Helen opened that door, she found the girl's body, a slash mark across her body from the Yoma's claw, and Helen's knife covered with purple blood in her hand. The Yoma's corpse wasn't far away, a slash wound across its neck."

"Apparently the Yoma had let its guard down against a lone "defenseless" human child, and when it approached to finish her off, she caught him by surprise, but he still had time to return the favor, and claw her across the chest."

"Helen immediately ran over to the other girl, praying that she was still alive, she was, but she didn't have much longer live." Deneve said, closing her eyes.

-------------------------------------------------------

"Thank god your ok, I'm sorry I hit you." The girl said, barely alive.

"Idiot! Why did you do it! I'm the troublemaker; you're the one that deserved to live!" Helen cried, frustrated tears running down her face.

"Hehe, I don't want to be called and idiot by you." The girl's faint voice replied; a smile on her blood covered face.

"Don't laugh, I'll never forgive you!"

"S-sorry Helen, but you made all the other kids so happy that I couldn't think of anything else but their smiles, so I-I……. I-I'm sorry, please don't cry Helen." The dying girl said meekly, her voice almost completely gone.

Helen's tears were falling non-stop, her anger being overwhelmed by her grief.

"I wish we could have been better friends Helen." Were the last words ever spoken by that girl.

Helen stayed there cradling her body the entire night…

"Helen spent several days after that burying the people killed by the Yoma." Deneve said.

"A proper grave, every single one of them, and then she burned down the Orphanage, the Yoma's body still inside."

"Years later, when we became friends, Helen took me there, she visited every so often, tidying the graves up. She stopped at one grave in particular and I heard her say this."

"Idiot, you were way better then a friend, you were a sister." Helen whispered to the grave that was a bit bigger than the others.

"Helen saw every girl younger than her as a little sister, and every girl older then her as a friend, but there was only one girl that she considered an older sister." Deneve said, staring straight at Miria.

Miria was silent for a moment, closing her eyes to hide her shock. She understood the importance of the story, and exactly how it connected to her.

"So Helen…she-" Miria started to say, the shock in her voice making her thoughts obvious.

"I won't say a word more." Deneve interrupted.

"But I hope you will rethink your decision." She said getting up to leave.

Miria stood there for a moment, but soon regained her senses. She trailed behind Deneve, a thoughtful look overtaking her features.

She had a lot to think about.

A few hours later………………….

They were within sight of the others now, Cynthia still looked quite depressed, and the mood had apparently affected Clare and Tabitha as well, as both their expressions showed discomfort.

Helen was there too, she seemed to have calm down a great deal, but a frustrated expression still polluted her features, Yuma was crumpled on the ground nearby, looking like she had run a marathon.

As Helen noticed Miria's approach, her features changed from frustrated to uncomfortable, Helen didn't even dare look into Miria's eyes.

Deneve glanced sideways at Miria, try to gauge what Miria's mood was like right now, and what decision she had come to.

But Miria's face had returned to the cool and calm leader, unreadable and distant.

"Helen" Miria said, her gaze settling on the said warrior after scanning everyone else.

"Y-yes Miria?" Helen said her discomfort obvious as she looked up at Miria.

"Come here"

Helen almost dragged her feet as she approached Miria.

"Listen"

Helen stood up straighter and stared at Miria, she looked unsure, but it was obvious she was focusing on Miria's words now.

"If you agree to tone down the pranks I'll allow you to team-up with Cynthia again." Miria said, loudly enough for the others to hear.

There were several shocked expressions, Clare and Tabitha exchanged glances, wondering if Miria seriously thought this would work. Yuma, from her spot on the ground, actually shifted herself to get a view of the spectacle. Deneve nodded approvingly.

Cynthia's expression pulled a 180 and grew hopeful.

"W-what?" Helen said, slack-jawed.

"If you don't like the deal the—"

"Yes, yes, yes! I swear all tone it down, cross my heart! I promise!" Helen said, overcome with joy.

Miria's face gained a light red tint as Helen hugged her hard enough to make her wince.

"Thank you so much Miria-nee!" Helen cried.

"Please put me down Helen." Miria asked, growing more embarrassed by the second.

When Miria's feet finally touched the ground, Cynthia quickly approached, thanking Miria profusely, her pig tails always a step behind her head as she bowed repeatedly.

Miria waved her off, uncomfortable with the two warrior's sudden display of affection

Helen and Cynthia quickly hugged one another, their gratitude towards Miria taking a temporary backseat to their "reunion."

_I suppose Cynthia must see Helen as an older sister as much as Helen sees her as a younger._Miria thought, observing the two of them.

_And I suppose __the same c__ould be__ said fo__r Helen__ and __me. _Miria thought, a small smile gracing her features.

-------------------------------------------------------

It was days before Miria saw a sign of a prank from Helen and Cynthia, a definite record.

Miria's first hint was when she noticed Helen and Cynthia whispering to each other behind her back, their gazes shifting suspiciously between each other and her.

Miria was anything but stupid, she knew they had something planned for her, and she was more than ready for whatever mischief they would attempt. She was actually disappointed that they hadn't tried anything sooner.

Hours later, as the sun descended down, signaling the start of dusk, Miria could tell that Helen and Cynthia were following her, and Miria also noticed that they were both carrying buckets, buckets full of snow.

It didn't take someone of Miria's wit to tell what was going on.

Miria admitted, their ambush wasn't bad, if she had not been expecting it, they might have actually gotten her.

Cynthia and Helen popped out from underneath a small mound of snow, barrels of snow ready to be tossed at their unsuspecting leader.

That is until they found that their buckets weren't in their hands, and that the Miria in front of them had vanished.

A few seconds later Cynthia had a load of snow dumped on her head and Helen had a large deposit of the same icy content put down the back of her leggings.

Now hybrids may be extremely resilient to extreme conditions, but having snow put into your clothes was still an immensely unpleasant experience when they weren't ready for it.

Cynthia cried out in shock, allowing some of the snow to get in her mouth, and Helen jumped almost a full 5 feet into the air.

And their behind the two would-be pranksters stood Miria, two buckets slung under her left arm, both of them empty of their former load.

"N-no f-fair!" Helen managed to get out, now sitting on the ground, doing her best to adjust to the temperature change in her "ahem" backside.

"Y-yeah, cough" Cynthia said, coughing up some partially melted snow.

"Fair?" Miria asked, an eyebrow raised. "I wasn't aware I had to be "fair" in this situation. Miria's expression changed from her usual neutral expression to one of a more mischievous nature.

"Maybe you right." Helen said, recovering from the initial shock of the cold, one of her arms careful placed behind her back.

Miria saw it coming and swiftly dodged Helen's counter-attack.

Cynthia quickly joined in, attempting to support Helen's battle against their lightning-fast leader.

A part of Miria felt silly, but she carefully filed that part of herself away for now, after all, she wanted to show these two exactly who they were messing with.

Besides, another side of her was feeling rather excited.

* * *

Sometime later, Deneve happened across the site of what had been a battle of epic proportions. 

Snow was upturned everywhere, and the clear signs of a snowball fight were obvious.

Deneve sighed as she spotted the two figures, half buried in snow, deep breaths giving away their exhaustion.

Not more than 10 feet away sat Miria, with her legs crossed, not a single inch of snow covering her, one of her hands was carefully placed over her mouth, attempting in vain to cover a smirk.

Deneve sighed again.

_They didn't stand__ a chance_

_**To b**__**e continued…**_

_**---------------------**_

_**Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out, house caught on fire and been suffering writers block as the same time, so took me a bit. :P**_

_**Please read and review!**_

_**Edit: thanks to the review who pointed out the name mix-up of Tabitha/Veronica.**_

_****_


	7. Hot Springs, or just plain Hot

Stories from the North, part 7

--

Finally decided to get off my rear and continue the story a bit more, a mixture of being busy and slacking off are to blame for the delay, but here it is. Kind of a rush job, but when inspiration hits, it hits hard.

--

It had been long time; considerably longer than any of them were willing to admit.

Although it was never a primary concern (that would be survival) for the seven of them; it was certainly of great importance that a suitable location be found as soon as possible.

So when Helen and Cynthia returned one day from patrol looking brighter then they had for a while; Miria knew something was up.

"I found one! We finally found one!!" Helen cried, running towards the rest of the Ghosts, her arms waving.

Miria calmly stood up, raising her hand to slow Helen down before she hurt herself.

Helen nearly ran into Miria before coming to a stop, and quickly grabbed her leader by the shoulders.

"At long last, our prayers are answered!!" Helen shouted, causing Miria to wince.

"Please calm down Helen; you're liable to cause an avalanche at this rate." Miria said, freeing herself from Helen's vice-like grip.

"Oh, sorry," Helen quieted, quickly covering her mouth.

She clearly remembered the last time they had to outrun an avalanche due to her lack of volume control.

It took them hours to find Yuma……

"Ok, now that you're a bit more manageable, what did you find that has got you so excited?"

It has been a while since the eternally-bored Helen had looked so pleased; the last time Miria could remember was when Helen had dumped snow on her while she was sleeping; payback she supposed for the time she had trounced Helen and Cynthia in a snowball fight. (Not that Helen got away with it)

"We found an underground spring." Cynthia said having caught up with her ever troublesome partner, a pleased smile decorating her features.

"An underground spring?"

Cynthia nodded.

"As in an area of water that is located underground and is kept warm by heat coming from the earth?" Miria inquired, obviously surprised.

By now, everyone was listening closely to the conversation.

"Yup!" Helen replied, puffing out her chest to show how proud she was of herself.

There was a moment of tense silence.

"T-that means we can finally take a d-decent bath?" Yuma nervously questioned, braving the silence.

Cynthia nodded again, her smile growing wider.

"No more ice water for bathing?" Tabitha asked, her eyes showing her disbelief.

"No more ice water for bathing!!" Helen responded.

"A warm bath…" Clare said, almost in a state of shock.

Another moment of silence passed as the Ghosts absorbed the information.

"…………why are we still standing here? Helen take us there already!!" Deneve almost shouted in a rare display of impatience.

Needless to say, it had been a while since the Ghosts had taken a proper bath.

--

A few hours later……

--

After covering several miles in record time; the Ghosts arrived at their destination.

It was a cave with an entrance that could almost be called hidden. If it wasn't for the slight lack of snow in the area it probably would have been unnoticeable.

The Ghosts stood outside the entrance; hesitating.

"Helen, if this is some sort of joke, you will pay dearly…" Miria stated; voicing the doubts the other Ghosts had written on their faces.

But Helen wasn't listening; she was practically diving into the modestly sized entrance.

Cynthia ducked her head and followed soon after.

The rest of them didn't hesitate much longer.

--

By the time the others had gotten inside; Helen was half undressed standing next to one of the many pools of steamy water. Cynthia had just removed her cloak.

The place was much bigger then it appeared from the outside.

The cave was devoid of the slightest hint of ice; the steam carried warm moisture in the air that Miria hadn't felt in long time.

"Helen….This place…." Miria started.

"Is Awesome!!" Helen cried as she finally finished undressing, cannon-balling herself into the largest pool of water; spilling some of the water into other small pools around them.

A splash of hot water hit all the Ghosts; and they all stood stunned; feeling warmth for the first time in a long time.

The Ghosts moved in a chaotic fashion; rushing to get their clothing off in a mad dash to get into the spa of heavenly water.

Miria never would have guessed she could strip off Clare's skintight-by-design uniform so quickly

Miria relaxed for the first time in ages; sinking her body into the hot spring.

The other Ghosts weren't far behind, most of them settled in the biggest pool of water; the one Helen had jumped into.

It was big enough to allow the other six relax in it while giving each other a good amount of space; Miria located herself into an adjacent pool.

The others were all sinking their bodies into the water, obviously enjoying the long forgotten warmth.

Yuma leaned back, concealing everything but the upper part of her head in the water, trying to submerge as much of herself as possible.

Tabitha immediately found a nearby piece of stone, and went to work on scrubbing her skin; eager to clean her body.

Cynthia was playing with the water; and occasionally dunking her head underneath to submerge herself in the warmth.

Clare mirrored Deneve; they were relaxing themselves on opposite sides of the pool; their arms resting on the stone and their heads leaning back as they enjoyed the steamy air.

And Helen……well Helen could never just sit still could she?

"Hmm…." Helen pondered as she looked from person to person in the main pool, standing in the center; everything waist-up blatantly exposed.

Miria kept an eye on Helen; hoping she wasn't up to any mischief.

"You know, I think they have gotten smaller." Helen stated.

Everyone's questioning gaze fell upon Helen.

"W-what?" Yuma asked, unsure of Helen's meaning.

"This" Helen said; pointing at the area between her breasts.

The scar; the one thing all Claymores had in common aside from their silver eyes and hair.

No matter how they disguised the color of their eyes; the scar would always remain; separating them from normal humans forever.

At least; that was what the Organization had told them.

The Ghosts all quickly examined themselves; hoping to confirm Helen's statement.

Miria, Clare, Helen, and Deneve's scars had decreased significantly since their partial awakening, but much to everyone's surprise; so had Yuma, Cynthia, and Tabitha's; if by a lesser extent.

"What do you think it means?" Cynthia inquired, her curious question mirroring everyone else's thoughts.

"Heck if I know." Helen shrugged as she looked at Miria; as if passing on the question.

Miria realized that everyone was looking to her for answers now.

"I really don't know for sure, but for the four of us, the obvious link of our partial-awakenings has something to do with it." Miria began; a bit hesitant to state her theory.

"It is possible that when our bodies returned to normal; that our memories of how our bodies used to be subconsciously affected us, and as a result the scars shrunk."

"So our bodies were trying to return to normal?" Helen asked.

"In a manner of speaking; I suppose normal _form_ would technically be more correct."

"Much like an Awakened Being changes form, right?" Deneve stated bluntly.

"………Yes." Miria said with a wince, obviously not liking the comparison.

An awkward silence permeated in the air, some of the steam created droplets could be heard falling back into the water.

"Now that you mention it," Clare spoke; breaking the silence.

"When Jean returned to normal I didn't see the scar on her anywhere."

It was always painful to bring up a lost comrade, but Clare obviously thought it was worth mentioning, Jean had come closest out of all of them to becoming an Awakened Being, but she had returned; only to later die in the battle for the North.

"But that doesn't explain the three of us." Tabitha stated, gesturing to Cynthia, Yuma, and herself.

"I can't say for sure but…..it could be due to how long we have lived." Miria replied as her brow furrowed in deep thought.

Everyone eagerly awaited her explanation.

"Think about it; most warriors don't live past a few years; yet some of us here have been hybrids for a decade now. It is hard to say what effects that will have on our bodies."

"Because we haven't been using Yoki, and have managed to survive so long; the Yoma flesh in our bodies could be...adapting to us better."

That statement made all of them uncomfortable..

"But does that mean we are getting closer to Awakening, or that we are less likely to?" Deneve questioned; her poker face in full effect.

"Like I said, I really don't know, but all we can do is wait, and hope." Miria said; the word "hope" feeling almost like a whisper to her own ears.

A somber feeling descended upon them once again.

"AHHHH this so depressing!! We should be relaxing, not thinking about this stuff!" Helen roared; finally growing frustrated with everyone's gloomy attitude.

Everyone showed various signs of surprise in response to Helen's outburst, from Clare's eyes widening in suprise, to Yuma jumping out of the water.

"Jeez, you all missed the obvious benefit of this!" Helen said; looking disappointed.

"Really, and what would that be?" Miria felt compelled to ask.

"Sex-appeal of course!" Helen stated, making it sound obvious.

Miria slapped her hand over her face.

Deneve looked amused.

Clare rolled her eyes.

Cynthia laughed, her face flushed.

Tabitha looked shocked

And Yuma just looked mortified at the thought.

"Come on! We're a bunch of attractive girls with awesome figures; guys would throw themselves at us! Think of the possibilities!" Helen emphasized her words by waving her hands in the air.

"Helen, that is ridiculous." Miria replied, hand still on her face.

"Y-yeah, and besides, I-I don't think I have that much s-sex appeal" Yuma chipped in, her face crimson.

"No way Yuma, Your figure is top class! Take it from me; the guys would trip over themselves for you!" Helen whirled on Yuma.

"You got nice long hair, a pretty face, great chest, cute bottom, not to mention the whole "vulnerability" thing you have going on." Helen rattled on; pointing for emphasis.

With every compliment Yuma attempted to cover the aforementioned body part, and eventually settled for hiding her body in the water.

"Everyone here is a great looker; Clare and Deneve have that "cold-beauty" look, Tabitha is "do-me!" sexy, Cynthia is sexy-cute, and Miri--" Helen paused her tirade; noticing that Miria's body was out of view since she was in a different pool.

"W-what?!" Miria asked, alarmed by Helen's sudden pause and glare.

Helen splashed her way across the spa towards Miria's own pool.

"Come to think of it, you have been hiding over there all this time; let me have a good look at you!" Helen said with an evil grin plastered on her face.

"N-no, stop it" Miria stuttered out as she attempted to fend of Helen with one arm as she used the other to shield herself.

Half the Ghosts stared in a stupefied shock, and the other half simply looked amused.

Tabitha quickly started to make her way over to defend her commander.

"Oh, want a piece of the action to eh Tabby?" Helen teased, noticing Tabitha's menacing advance.

Tabitha froze in her tracks; "N-no, I'm not, I wasn't…" Tabitha stuttered, hesitant to move forward.

As Helen turned back to her "prey," the potential threat dealt with, but she felt Miria's firm grip on her arm.

"Cut it out Helen!" Miria cried as she threw Helen with a text-book jujitsu style throw back into the main spa.

There was a huge splash, causing everyone to shield their eyes from the hot water.

Helen was coughing as she resurfaced; some water had obviously gotten into her throat.

"Helen, you really need calm down, there is such a thing as "personal space" and you should respect it!" Miria stood fully, her "command" voice in full effect.

"I mean really Hele--why are you all staring at me?" Miria asked; suddenly realizing all eyes were on her.

Yuma had an amazed look on her face, her face blushed crimson

Deneve simply looked impressed.

Cynthia had her eyes partially covered, a light blush on her face.

Tabitha's face was a deep crimson, a hand covering her mouth (and nose.)

Clare looked almost…envious?

(cough, cough) "Jeez Miria you didn't nearly have to drown m—" Helen paused half way through her sentence and stared as well.

"W-what!?" Miria asked, suddenly feeling extremely self-conscious.



"Wow……your b-body is…PERFECT!" Helen cried as her jaw dropped a look of shock etched into her features.

Miria felt her entire body turn red as she shielded it with her arms and quickly splashed back into her own pool.

Seeing their leader so embarrassed was both surprising and highly amusing for everyone, except for Miria herself.

Silence once again took its iron grasp on everyone present.

Helen's jaw was still dropped, as if frozen in place.

"Fu-fu, as I thought, I don't stand a chance." Yuma lamented.

--

To be continued;

--

There you go, the glorious return of Stories from the North!!

I even filled out the "hot-spring episode" quota.

Not sure when the next update will be, but I hope you guys liked this one.

Please Review, any advice or compliments are appreciated.


	8. A Matter of Confidence

Stories from the North part 8

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Sorry for the long delay, but been distracting myself with gaming and school (mostly gaming) but on new years I felt the urge to write, so I started on this chapter. I hope you guys like it!

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Confidence was something that Miria understood the value of quite well.

As a leader, Miria knew you had to be confident in your own decisions.

Displaying a lack of confidence in yourself would cause others around you to lose confidence as well, in both themselves and in you.

Overconfidence could be disastrous as well; if you displayed confidence in the success of an operation only to have it fail, people would begin questioning your decisions as leader, and confidence would falter as well.

Both could lead to disaster, and that didn't just apply to leader, but being a warrior as well.

But Miria knew for certain it was the former, not the latter that was the problem this day.

"Guard your left Yuma!" Miria barked.

"Y-yes!" Yuma responded, her voice barely audible through her gasping.

Helen's blow was narrowly parried by Yuma's last minute defense.

Yuma was shocked that she actually defended against the strike.

Helen's eyebrows rose for a moment, but she quickly pressed the attack again, continuing her assault.

Yuma managed to defend herself for 15 seconds longer before their blades locked again, and Helen swiftly overpowered and disarmed her.

"That's enough!" Miria shouted, much to Yuma's relief.

Yuma collapsed to the ground, her exhaustion apparent by the heavy amount of perspiration coming off her forehead.

Helen housed her blade back into its sheath, a glint of sweat on her forehead and a grin on her face.

"Not bad Yuma, I think you lasted a few seconds longer that time!" Helen declared, obviously satisfied with her victory.

"7 seconds to be exact, maybe you're just getting sloppy Helen." Deneve stated, her voice as deadpan as usual as she sat on a nearby rock.

Helen stuck her tongue out at Deneve and began her stroll back to the cave for some food.

"Isn't it better to say that Yuma improved?" Cynthia offered as she plopped down next to Deneve.

"It's hard to tell when all she does is defend." Tabitha injected as she sat across Deneve and Cynthia's position on the stone.

"……" Clare simply remained silent; she had watched the entire fight while leaning on the wall near the cave entrance, and walked off as soon as the fight ended.

Yuma laid where she collapsed, gasping for air, content with letting the snow assist in numbing her sore body.

Her face displayed a barely noticeable hint of disappointment as she let out a sigh that almost went unnoticed.

Almost

Miria silently watched as the others started to follow Helen's lead and head towards the area were they stored their rations.

Yuma began to lift herself off the ground as Miria approached.

"You are on patrol with me later." Miria ordered in her "command" voice.

Yuma looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Huh? Isn't it Tabitha's tur-"

"I won't repeat myself." Miria said, cutting her off.

"Yes m-mam." Yuma replied, clearly intimidated by Miria's tone.

_Am I in trouble for something? _

_-----------------_

Several hours later Yuma met Miria outside the cave.

"You're late." Miria noted.

"S-sorry, it took me a while to explain it to Tabitha, you know how she get's sometimes when yo-"

Yuma stopped mid-word, sneaking an uncomfortable glance at Miria.

_You're involved, _they both thought, mentally completing the sentence.

Miria coughed, her cheeks turning slightly red.

"Very well, let's go." Miria said, taking a brisk pace.

Yuma followed her lead, already struggling to keep up.

------------------

"Miria, p-please slow down." Yuma gasped out; Miria's near break-neck pace was swiftly draining her stamina.

"Very well, this should be far enough" Miria stated, seemingly satisfied about something.

A confused "Huh?" was Yuma's only response.

"I want to hear your thoughts about a few things Yuma, and I want you to answer me as honestly as possible."

"A-alright." Yuma managed, attempting to catch her breath.

"What is your opinion of your sparring match with Helen earlier?"

"Umm, I guess I did o-ok considering the difference in rank." Yuma began, her gaze directed at her feet.

"And?" Miria inquired, wanting her to elaborate.

"I-I guess I'm too slow to actually attack Helen, so I decided to stay on the defensive as long as I could" Yuma continued, unsure of what Miria was looking for, she began to dig her foot into the snow a bit.

Miria simply raised an eyebrow.

"I thought about maybe t-trying to counter attack or something, but I didn't feel like there was an opening for that, and Helen's speed just means that it would be unlikely to land, and it would p-probably open just open up my own defense." Yuma went on; kicking up a small bit of snow as she racked her brain for what Miria could be looking for.

"I see." Miria stated with a mildly surprised expression on her face.

Yuma looked up hesitantly as Miria stood in front of her, her right hand covering her mouth, she looked slightly disappointed.

"A-actually, I thought it might have been possible that one time Helen looked a bit surprised, b-but-"

"But you didn't think you could do it?" Miria asked, her face shifting to a more thoughtful expression.

Yuma simply nodded; she didn't think landing an attack was even possible considering the difference in speed. Even concentrating on defense, Helen would eventually overwhelm her with her superior stamina and strength.

"Why am I so weak?"Yuma asked herself bitterly.

"You aren't weak Yuma." Miria responded, surprising Yuma.

_Oh no! I was thinking aloud._ Yuma thought, making sure her thoughts stayed inside her head instead of projecting out of her mouth this time.

"B-but I am, I can barely keep up when we are running, and I'm always the first one to get tired-" Yuma countered.

"Yuma-" Miria attempted to interrupt.

"a-and I always need the most protection when we are fighting Awakened Beings, my Yoki sensing isn't very good either, and I always being a burden for everyone else-' Yuma continued, her feelings of self-loathing welling to the surface.

"You aren't a burden Yuma-"

"Yes I am!" Yuma cried out, surprising both of them.

"E-even though I'm rank 40, Clare is way stronger than me, I can't even keep up with her, she's a better sword-fighter then me, even without her Yoki-" Yuma said, her voice growing bitter.

"Clare is a special case-" Miria began again.

"That doesn't matter, it doesn't change the fact she is at least useful!" Yuma shouted interrupting Miria once more.

"Hell, I would at least be happy if I didn't perspire so much, at least then it wouldn't be so obvious how pathetic I am." Yuma was pretty sure her eyes were watering up now.

_Great, I look even more pathetic now_.

Miria chose to remain silent, listening to Yuma's outburst.

"Even the others know how weak I am, Cynthia and Helen try to humor me every once in a while, but Deneve is right, it is more likely that Helen was just having a bad day then any meager improvement on my part-"

Miria continued to be silent, though her expression grew tenser.

"I'm so useless, it would have been better if someone else had survived."

"Yuma, stop it." Miria said quietly.

"B-but Flora, Jean, Undine, Veronica, almost anyone else would have been better than me."

"That's enough Yuma" Miria ordered.

"It's true though! I'm just a giant weight dragging everyone else down!" Yuma cried out in defiance, tears pouring down her face.

"I SAID THAT"S ENOUGH!!!" Miria shouted furiously.

Yuma froze in fear, intimidated by Miria's outburst; she had never seen her so enraged before.

"No one thinks that, none of us that survived would ever think that, and not one of those who died would have thought that either!" Miria shouted, marching up to Yuma.

Yuma was too shocked by Miria's anger to respond.

"When we took those half-pills 4 years ago, we acknowledged that it gave an equal chance for both the weak and the strong to survive, everyone agreed that the plan was fair."

Yuma noticed, somewhat guiltily, that Miria's eyes were watery now as well.

"I never want to hear that any of you regret surviving all of that, not after I did the best I could to save as many of you as possible." Miria said, tears marring her angry expression

Yuma looked away; she couldn't stand to look in Miria's eyes anymore.

"I-I'm sorry Miria, I-I just want to be more useful to everyone, I didn't mean for it all to come out like that." Yuma managed to get out, feeling ashamed of herself.

Miria schooled her expression, wiping her tears before they could freeze on her face.

"If you really want to know your own strength, your own worth, then draw your sword."

"What!?" Yuma asked, a sense of dread overcoming her,

"Just do it Yuma." Miria said sternly.

Yuma complied, clearly reluctant to do so.

"We are going to have a match right here, if you don't at least try to win I will be extremely upset with you." Miria said, as she spoke Yuma's expression grew paler.

"B-but Miria, you're a lot stronger then Helen, and I can't even win against her so how-"

"Try" was all that Miria said to her, as she walked away, giving Yuma some distance.

Yuma already felt her palms sweating, she knew there was no way to win this fight, but Miria wouldn't go easy on her.

"Let's go." Was all Miria said before drew her sword and charged Yuma.

Yuma barely managed to bring up the blade in time to stop Miria's attack, but Miria didn't let up and continued with a blurring barrage of sword strikes, Yuma could do nothing but defend herself.

_It's just as I thought, the strength, the speed, everything is on a different scale entirely. _Yuma thought, her confidence eroding faster than her defense.

"You can't win if you don't try to fight back!" Miria shouted through her barrage of attacks.

"There's no way!" Yuma cried out as she was pushed back further.

_Try_, for some reason Miria's voice echoed that word in her mind.

Her body reacted before she really had time to think about what she was doing, and she performed a riposte without thinking.

Miria swiftly blocked the counter attack, and returned with a strike of her own.

Yuma blocked that as well and turtle up once more.

_W-what was that? _Yuma thought, amazed by what had just occurred.

"Can you do it again?" Miria asked her, not slowing down in the slightest.

Yuma remained silent, concentrating, trying to get that feeling back again.

It was another flurry of strikes from Miria before she attempted the impossible once more.

The exchange repeated, Miria blocking the counter attack and continuing her offense.

But nonetheless, Yuma was amazed.

_Even though I open up my defense, she defends herself just long enough for me to recover! _Yuma realized.

Yuma's confidence grew slightly, she attempted it again, the same scene played out once more, and again, and again.

Even though she was only throwing out one strike for every dozen or so thrown at her, it actually looked like a fight instead of an exercise in breaking her defense now.

But it didn't last much longer, when she tried to counter attack once more, Miria batted the counter-attack away with such force it took Yuma off-balance for a moment. Yuma barely managed to block the next attack only to have her legs taken out from beneath her by a low-kick.

Yuma fell on her back, and felt the sensation of a sword on her throat before she could even think of getting up.

"Well done." Miria said from above her, a satisfied smile on her face.

"I, that was, I mean-" Yuma gasped out, realizing how tired she had become.

"The counter attack was well timed, but you repeated the same pattern too many times in a row, so I was able to predict it eventually." Miria continued, lecturing the worn-out Yuma as she sheathed her sword.

"But still! You weren't holding back were you?!" Yuma asked a clear look of disbelief on her face.

"I was" Miria replied instantly

Yuma felt her ego deflate a bit.

"I kept my strength at about the level it was back when I first met Helen, Deneve, and Clare, back when I was the #6 of the Organization."

"How come?" Yuma asked, curious, but still amazed that she held out so well.

"I wanted a comparison of how much my strength and your strength has progressed." Miria answered.

Yuma's expression clearly displayed that she didn't understand.

"Not everyone knows to what extent, but we have all gotten quite a bit stronger, I would place your rank around the mid 20's now." Miria admitted.

"Me ranked in the 20's?!" Yuma cried out, clearly shocked.

"Yes, probably close to Helen's old strength, if not a bit better by my estimation."

Yuma really couldn't believe that.

"You did far better than Clare did the first time I dueled with her, although she was quite a bit more aggressive, I suppose because you're a defensive type while she is an offensive." Miria mused.

"U-um, you aren't pulling my leg are you?"

"Of course not, Clare used to be extremely weak, she wasn't exactly ranked #47 for no reason, at least not back then." Miria said, giving a slight chuckle.

"Then again, she still ended up saving our lives against an Awakened Being the next day; on her first real hunt no less."

Needless to say Yuma was amazed.

"If Clare could improve so much, maybe I can as well." Yuma pondered, thinking aloud again.

"You have already improved quite a bit, but growing stronger isn't the only thing that is important, confidence is important as well."

"Confidence?" Yuma inquired, curious as to Miria's meaning.

"Your combat power went up significantly in our little spar as soon as you attempted to actually attack me, by realizing that you could actually strike out you gained confidence, and thus you were able to keep attempting to strike me."

"I still lost pretty badly though." Yuma said, although she did feel significantly better.

"True, but nothing a little variety in your movement wouldn't fix, unpredictability is key in combat, it is one of the reasons Clare has become so strong."

"But my fighting style is pretty linear." Yuma replied soberly.

"And that is why you will be training with Clare and I for the next few weeks, it should help you significantly.

Yuma remained silent for a few moments.

"Do you think I'll be able to hit Helen next time?" Yuma asked hesitantly.

"Oh, I would most certainly like to see that." Miria replied with a smile.

----------------

Upon returning from their patrol Miria wasted no time in gathering Clare to discuss her plan.

Clare was silent through most of the exchange and merely stared at the uncertain looking Yuma.

"Well, are you willing to help?" Miria asked, even though she already knew the answer.

Clare stayed silent, which only made Yuma more nervous.

"P-please Clare, I really want to improve." Yuma managed to stutter out, visibly sweating.

A small smile made itself known on Clare's face as she nodded, though it disappeared as swiftly as it had appeared.

"I'd be happy to" came the response, which was swiftly followed by Yuma's sigh of relief.

-----------------

Over the next few weeks, the strict (brutal in Yuma's opinion) training yielded noticeable results.

Yuma sparred almost exclusively with Miria and Clare, and generally when no one else was watching.

It was almost a month later before her "mentors" considered her ready for another try against Helen.

"oho, it's been a while since we lasted sparred Yuma, I'm looking forward to it" Helen proclaimed with her trademark grin.

Yuma merely nodded with a nervous smile on her face.

"Calm down, being nervous will only affect your ability to fight, and don't forget to breath." Clare spoke while putting her hand on Yuma's shoulder.

Clare was acting as the "coach" for Yuma in this match while Deneve was doing the same for Helen.

Yuma nodded in acknowledgement and stole a glance at Miria, who simply nodded at her.

Deneve watched the interaction between the three with a mild amount of suspicion, she had noticed that the three of them had been pairing up a lot recently.

"It will be fine Deneve, you don't need to worry." Helen said, noticing Deneve's "concerned" expression.

"I'm not worried, but you could stand to be a bit more cautious, you should take Yuma seriously this time." was Deneve's reply as well as her advice.

"Hmm? What are you talking about, I always take Yuma seriously." Helen stated with a smile as she stood up.

"Is that so?" came Deneve's doubtful reply.

"That's so." Helen shot back with some humor in her voice, glancing at her long time friend.

Deneve stayed silent for a moment carefully studying her long time friend.

_Always full of surprises._ Deneve concluded, keeping her thoughts to herself.

"All right you two, get ready." Miria called out to the two warriors.

Yuma and Helen swiftly headed towards the area that was chosen. They always had to search for areas to practice in further away from the cliffs due to the risk of an avalanche, but it also had to be a place that wasn't easily located, due to their situation.

Helen stretched her shoulders as they faced off, while Yuma was performing some breathing exercises to calm herself down.

_It will be ok, I'll just follow what Clare and Miria said; this isn't a life or death battle or anything like that_. Yuma consoled herself, doing her best to shake the tightness in her muscles.

Helen and Yuma were finally in position, the other Ghosts giving them sufficient room.

"Ready?" came Miria's dreaded question.

Helen nodded as she drew her sword, her expression as vibrant as ever.

Yuma merely nodded, not trusting herself to speak, her breathing finally normal.

"Then Begin!" Miria shouted, signaling the start of the match.

Helen charged out with a joyful cry as Yuma stood her ground, preparing to lock blades with Helen.

Their blades collided sending snow scattering in every direction as Yuma was pushed back slightly due to the impact.

The rest of the ghosts watched silently.

Helen, not letting up for a moment, pressed her advantage by sending a flurry of powerful strikes out, hoping to use her superior strength to overwhelm Yuma's defense. Yuma's defense appeared to barely hold up.

So far, it was a typical match between the two.

_Maybe I was wrong?_ Deneve pondered, glancing over at Clare and Miria.

Clare wore her usual expressionless mask while Miria wore her analytical one.

_Ok, ok, ok, ok, ok, it's ok, just do what Miria said and I'll be fine. _Yuma thought as she warded off Helen's blows.

_Just remember what she said:_

"_Although you definitely have skill, it doesn't change the fact Helen is faster and stronger then you, but that doesn't mean you can't catch her off guard." _Miria had lectured her.

"_Helen is a very aggressive fighter, and she gains momentum the less she has to defend, but if you break Helen's offense too early then she will just defend herself until she feels ready to attack again, and you can't allow that with your current strength."_

"_So what do I do?!" _Yuma remembered crying out.

"_That's easy, let her gain confidence by giving her the illusion that you are stuck on the defense, and then when she feels like she is about to win-. _Miria pausedand looked Yuma in the eye.

"_**Attack**__!"_

Upon remembering that command, Yuma deflected Helen's sword, catching her off guard and snaked out an attack of her own.

Two gasps of surprise could be heard from the "audience," most likely Cynthia and Tabitha.

But neither of them could be more surprised than Helen, who only just blocked the fierce counter attack.

But Yuma didn't let up.

A flurry of precise sword strikes rained down upon Helen's impromptu defense, keeping Helen on her heels.

_Yes! It's working! _Yuma felt exhilarated, Helen's expression alone made those weeks of terrible training worth it.

_Now I need to break her defense before she recovers, otherwise I'll lose my chance._

"_Just because you catch her off guard doesn't mean you'll win with that alone" _Clare's voice rang in her head.

"_Helen may act silly most….well all of the time, but she is a very skilled fighter in her own right so if you wait too long she will recover and you'll be in trouble._

"_A-and how do I do that?" _Yuma remembered asking timidly.

"_Easy_." Clare said, a rare smile on her face.

"_Do something __**unexpected**__."_

Yuma angled a sword swipe low, causing Helen to try to intercept it, but Yuma's target wasn't Helen.

It was the snow-covered ground.

The flat of Yuma's blade swept up a huge amount of snow, all up towards Helen.

Helen cried out as a flurry of snow swept into her face and obscured her vision; she jumped back, her reflexes telling her to distance herself.

Yuma followed the blinded Helen and struck out, both of them mid-air.

Helen barely managed to block the blow through her obscured vision, her sight clearing just enough for her to see her opponent.

"Not bad Yum- ooof!" Helen cried out before a blow took the wind from her lungs.

Their swords were still crossed, but Yuma's boot was firmly planted in Helen's stomach.

Helen was knocked backwards, clear into a nearby snow mound, kicking up even more of the crystallized rain.

Silence prevailed once more, only a howling wind could be heard.

"I-I did it!" Yuma cried out, her expression one of shock and exhilaration.

Miria looked somewhat amused, and Clare merely sighed.

_Why aren't they more excit—_Yuma pondered as her train of thought was suddenly interrupted.

Yuma felt something grasp her leg and trip her.

Helen's extended limb had come from beneath the snow and tugged her footing away from her, taking advantage of her shock.

Helen swiftly charged back out of the mound and jumped on top of the fallen Yuma, straddling her.

"Hahaha, that was great Yuma!" Helen cried out while pinching Yuma's cheeks.

"No-no fair!" Yuma cried out, trying in vain to ward off Helen's "attack."

"Oh don't be that way, you know what they say; all's fair in love and war, or something like that!" Helen roared, clearly enjoying herself.

Yuma finally gave up on defending herself and sighed.

"I was so close too…."

"Yup, almost lost my lunch there" Helen moaned slightly, freeing Yuma's cheeks from her grasp to cradle her stomach, her adrenaline wearing off.

Everyone began to head towards the two warriors, bearing expressions ranging from surprised to impressed.

Yuma looked at Miria and Clare specifically, both of them seemed satisfied with her performance.

"Hehe, maybe next time eh?" Helen said, offering to help Yuma up.

"Hehe, I'll do my best" Yuma replied, allowing herself a small smile.

_Wait, does that mean I still need to train with Miria and Clare? _Yuma expression displaying her dismay.

Miria's amused expression suddenly seemed much more sinister, as did Clare's half-smile.

_Ah crap,_ were the only words Yuma's mind could produce for that thought.

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End of chapter 8

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Hope you guys liked it, the fights were a bit difficult for me to write out, but I figured to stick with them since they were, for the most part, necessary for this chapter.

Please Review and tell me what you thought!


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